Abstract
Will the Cold War, in future be seen as an exception in the history of Russian-American relationship including the contemporary period (1992-2004) ? The Cold War lasted for nearly fifty years and has contributed to shape the whole world to the same extent that the two world wars have done, except that during this conflict there was no direct confrontation. Two superpowers faced each other until one of them collapsed, to create a new world in which the United States will be considered as an "hyperpower", expression used by Hubert Vedrine, a former French Foreign Minister. Such an unprecedented event should contribute to consider the Cold War as exceptional. However, in the history of Russian- American relationship, we will tend to consider the cold war more as the rule than as a peculiarity.
